Late Friday night, New York became the sixth and largest state to approve same-sex marriage. After complicated behind-the-scenes negotiations, four Republican senators joined all but one Democrat to pass the bill in a close vote in the State Senate. The State Assembly, with a Democratic majority, had approved it earlier in the month. Two days after the passage of the measure, tens of thousands of people took to the streets for New York City’s...

The Senate voted 63 to 31 on Thursday to repeal the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy. Eight Republicans joined with Democrats to approve the repeal and send the measure to President Obama for his signature. The bill passed in the House last week. We speak with former Navy commander Zoe Dunning. Until her retirement three years ago, she was thought to be the only openly gay person serving in the U.S....

The military’s seventeen-year-old ban on openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people from joining the US military is back on the books. But based on a new directive, only five senior military officials will be able to discharge service members for violating the policy. The change makes it harder for the military to remove openly gay troops. We speak to one of the most vocal critics of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Lt. Dan Choi, who...

The Nation's Richard Kim joins us to discuss some of the major issues facing the gay rights movement in America today, including Tuesday's decision by a federal judge to end the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy; the surge in gay teenagers committing suicide; the homophobic remarks of politicians ahead of the midterm elections; and the recent brutal beatings and torture of three New York men because of their...

A federal judge has ruled the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy toward gay and lesbian members of the military is unconstitutional. Judge Virginia Phillips said she will issue an injunction that will halt the enforcement of the policy that allows gay men and lesbian to serve in the armed forces as long as they do not disclose their orientation and do not engage in homosexual acts. [includes rush transcript]

A federal judge struck down Proposition 8, the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages, on Wednesday. In his ruling, US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker wrote, "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. The evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are...

Dan Choi was an Iraq War veteran, a graduate of West Point and a trained Arabic linguist. I ran into Choi the day after he received his official discharge for violating the military’s so-called "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy.

“As we mark the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq,” President Barack Obama said this week, “a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there.” He should have added “unless you’re gay,” because, despite his rhetoric, weeks earlier the commander-in-chief fired one of those Iraq vets: Lt. Dan Choi. Choi is a West Point graduate, an Arabic linguist and an Iraq war veteran. He was fired under the military’s "Don’t...

Proposed anti-gay legislation in Uganda has sparked international uproar. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the new bill would impose much harsher punishments including life imprisonment and even the death penalty for some homosexual acts. We speak with a leading Ugandan gay rights organizer and a Zambian priest who has documented the role of American evangelicals in fostering homophobia in Uganda. [includes rush transcript]

For the first time, the Pentagon’s top leaders have called for an end to "don’t ask, don’t tell," the military policy barring gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. We get reaction from Alexander Nicholson, a former Army intelligence officer who was discharged for being gay, and Nathaniel Frank, author of Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America. [includes rush...